Wednesday, March 5, 2014

"I'm the Boss!"

March 5, 2014

Instead of working on the house today we helped out at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Easley, SC. We arrived around 9 am we were greeted by three friendly men named Bruce, Lester, and Duke.The ReStore is supplied with a number of items such as stoves, sofas, tables, books, jewelry, alarm clocks, etc. similar to the Salvation Army. The ReStore depends on donations and every item is used. Once the items are cleaned they are put on the shelves at discounted prices. Because they are open only Thursday, Friday, and Saturday people rush to the store at opening on Thursday. Bruce compared it to "Wal-Mart on Black Friday" so you can just imagine how packed it gets. We were all assigned to different duties including cleaning the garden, polishing items, checking for missing items, and measuring Christmas lights, but our main assignment was to get half the floor washed, buffed, and waxed. It's a lot harder than it looks! We started by first moving all the furniture to one side of the room. Then sweeping, mopping and buffing the floor before applying the wax. The buffer was definitely the most difficult. Our saying of the day was, "I'm the boss!" The workers got a kick out of that! We concluded that that was the only way that you were able to control the buffer, otherwise, he controlled you and that just did not end well. It took a while to get the hang of it and we know for sure that we will be sore tomorrow!

Around 12:15 ish our hunger pains really started to kick in. We sat at a long table while Cindy talked about Habitat for Humanity and what makes one an eligible applicant. Potential homeowners need to fill out extensive paperwork and demonstrate need before they are approved. A common misconseption s We were so hungry we passed a small 50 cent bag of Fritos around the table. Our lunch finally came which was prepared by Laurie, Bruce's wife. The lunch was homemade sloppy joe and it was the best sloppy joe I've ever had. Most of us had seconds.

After lunch time flew by, we finished waxing the floors, got awesome ReStore shirts, and took our group picture. Around 3 pm our work day was over and we headed to Clemson for our showers. Around 5:15 pm we headed downstairs to the Family Life Center where we enjoyed delicious chicken alfredo, salad, and mango pineapple cake that was provided by the First Baptist Church (where we are staying).

In order to maintain our figures we walked around town and checked out Clemson University. Unfortunately, most of the small stores were closed but the whether was perfect for walking. We got to explore campus and see the football stadium and their gigantic library. Once we got back we ended our day by watching Despicable Me and drinking delicious coffee made by Ryan.